Monthly Archives: June 2011

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Mr. Pop History – Their last film was 1949′s “”Love Happy.” Groucho went into TV and “You Bet Your Life.” and Chico did some TV and live dates. Harpo was guest starring on shows such as “I Love Lucy.”

But, they did get together one more time. It was 1959 on CBS-TV’s GE Theater and “The Incredible Jewel Robbery.” Harpo was a bad guy, Chico was a cop and Grouch is seen at the end, a cameo in a police line-up.

The White House delivers a report to Congress explaining its involvement in Libya, as a bipartisan group of lawmakers filed suit charging US military action in the war-torn nation is unconstitutional. The report will include legal analysis arguing that President Barack Obama did not overstep his powers in the conflict in the north African nation. “The president has acted in a manner that is consistent with the War Powers Resolution,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said, arguing the 30-page report would show the “success” of the mission to protect Libyan civilians.

A sharply divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday (June14) ruled that a controversial measure that curbs the collective bargaining rights of public workers in the state can go into effect. In what was essentially a 4-3 decision, the high court overturned a lower court, which had ruled Republican lawmakers violated the state’s open meetings law when they passed the measure in March.

Thousands of Syrians fled the historic town of Maarat al-Numaan on Wednesday to escape troops and tanks pushing into the north in a widening military campaign to crush protests against President Bashar al-Assad. In the tribal east, where Syria’s 380,000 barrels per day of oil is produced, tanks and armored vehicles deployed in the city of Deir al-Zor and around Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, a week after tens of thousands of people took to the streets there demanding an end to Assad’s autocratic rule.

Stocks fell sharply Wednesday as investors became increasingly concerned about the worsening debt crisis in Greece. The dollar rose against the euro and U.S. government bond prices climbed as investors sought out safer assets. In morning trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 84 points, or 0.7 percent, to 11,991, giving up much of its 123-point gain the day before.

The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for U.S. economic growth on Friday and warned Washington and debt-ridden European countries that they are “playing with fire” unless they take immediate steps to reduce their budget deficits. The IMF, in its regular assessment of global economic prospects, said bigger threats to growth had emerged since its previous report in April, citing the euro zone debt crisis and signs of overheating in emerging market economies.

Coast Guard helicopters intercepted a small aircraft that entered restricted air space near the US capital on Saturday, military officials said.The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said it ordered the action after the “small general aviation aircraft” approached the capital region without authorization at about 11:50 am (1550 GMT). “Upon being intercepted, the civilian aircraft was diverted to Annapolis (in Maryland) where the pilot was to meet with local law enforcement,” NORAD said in a statement.

President Hamid Karzai acknowledged Saturday that the U.S. and Afghan governments have held talks with Taliban emissaries in a bid to end the nation’s nearly 10-year war, even as suicide attackers launched a bold assault in the heart of the county’s capital, killing nine people. The attack, which occurred just blocks from Karzai’s office, shows the parties have a long way to go to reach a political settlement as the Obama administration weighs a major withdrawal of its forces. The White House neither directly confirmed or denied Karzai’s statement.

Prime Minister George Papandreou besieged by public protests and dissent in his own party, appealed to Greeks on Sunday to support deeply unpopular austerity reforms and avoid a catastrophic bankruptcy.He addressed parliament at the start of a confidence debate on his new crisis cabinet, ahead of a euro zone finance ministers’ meeting in Luxembourg which is expected to release a new aid tranche to keep Greece solvent.

Euro zone finance ministers applied intense pressure on Greece on Monday, saying it had to approve stricter austerity measures before a final decision is made on a further 12 billion euros in loans.

Before launching a second day of meetings on Greece, ministers indicated that the next tranche of EU/IMF aid would be paid by mid-July, allowing Athens to avoid default, but said the country had to show progress first on plans to cut spending, raise taxes and generate other revenue streams.

(Mr. Pop Culture Video) New Cigarette Label Warning – Dead bodies, diseased lungs and a man on a ventilator were among the graphic images for revamped U.S. tobacco labels, unveiled on Tuesday by health officials who hope the warnings will help smokers quit. Proposed in November under a law that put the multibillion-dollar tobacco industry under the control of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the new labels must be on cigarette packages and in advertisements no later than September 2012. They represent the first change in cigarette warnings in 25 years. They show images that may disturb some, including one titled “WARNING: Cigarettes are addictive,” illustrated with a photograph of a man smoking a cigarette through a hole in his throat.

An aging Russian airliner went down in heavy fog and burst into flames just short of a runway in northwestern Russia, killing 44 people in a crash that officials blamed on pilot. Eight people survived, dragged from the burning wreckage by locals. The RusAir Tu-134 plane had taken off from Moscow and was moments from landing at the Petrozavodsk airport when it slammed into a nearby highway just before midnight Monday.

British police working with the FBI arrested a 19-year-old man over attacks by a hacker group on businesses and government agencies including the CIA, US Senate and Sony, Scotland Yard said Tuesday. The man, named in reports as Ryan Cleary, was detained on Monday at a house in the suburban town of Wickford in Essex, southeast England, in connection with a month-long global rampage by the Lulz Security group.

Sports –

(Mr. Pop Culture Video) Boston Bruins Win The Stanley Cup And Not Is Well In Vancouver. Cars were set on fire and shops were looted following the ice hockey team’s 4-0 defeat to the Boston Bruins. Mobs of angry fans roamed central Vancouver after the game, as thick acrid smoke rose over the city centre. Similar riots broke out in the Canadian city after the Canucks lost the Stanley Cup in 1994. Record crowds of supporters gathered in the heart of the city on Wednesday in the hope of seeing their team – the favourites – secure the Stanley Cup and be crowned winners of the National Hockey League (NHL).

But hope quickly turned to gloom after the Boston Bruins scored first and then went on to secure an emphatic victory.

Jamie and Frank McCourt agreed Friday to have a one-day trial to determine if title to the Los Angeles Dodgers is in Frank McCourt’s name or if the team should be considered community property in their divorce and then sold, the former couple and their attorneys announced. The agreement anticipates Major League Baseball’s approval of a 17-year TV contract between the Dodgers and Fox, Frank McCourt said outside court. That deal has been reported to be worth $3 billion and Frank McCourt would receive $385 million upfront.

Technology –

Nook rated better than Kindle – says Consumer Reports, marking the first time the esteemed product-review group has given Barnes & Noble’s e-reader higher marks than its competitor from Amazon. Apparently, more is less for Consumer Reports. The Nook Simple Touch Reader, released last month, scored one point higher than the latest Kindle and a few points higher than other models. That’s more than the Nook Color, released about a half-year ago, could muster. (Amazon does not offer a color Kindle — at least not yet). The new Nook, which we’ve called the anti-iPad strips away bells and whistles from the first model, including a second navigation screen, an MP3 player and web browser.

Facebook’s facial-recognition feature for automatically tagging uploaded photos with the names of those pictured sparked a backlash from privacy advocates. Now it’s coming under scrutiny from Connecticut’s attorney general, who sent a letter to company officials this week requesting a meeting. Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen said he has “deep concerns” about Facebook’s choice to make the tagging feature opt-out, not opt-in.

BlackBerry maker Research In Motion believes its white knight is coming. But while it waits, the company is drastically lowering its financial outlook and handing out pink slips. Very disappointing sales of BlackBerry smartphones and tablets during the last quarter led RIM to cut its full-year profit expectations by 30% Thursday. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company also announced that it will begin a program to “streamline operations,” which will include layoffs.

Google announced a revamp of its mobile search interface, allowing easy access to restaurants, bars and coffee shops in the vicinity of your phone — in effect, cutting further into Yelp’s local search business. At an event called “Inside Search” at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, the search giant launched a slew of new features for its mobile and desktop search products. The mobile version of Google search gets those icons, instantly accessible at the bottom of the search screen. It also gets a new translate feature for Google Goggles, allowing you to point your phone at text in Russian and getting an instant text translation. Both features are launching today.

The Internet body that oversees domain names voted on Monday to end restricting them to suffixes like .com or .gov and will receive applications for new names from January 12 next year with the first approvals likely by the end of 2012. For instance, while the new steep charges of $185,000 to apply for a domain name could deter cyber-squatters, companies with well known trademarks worry that they may have to contend with series of copycat names like coke.paris or google.zambia. The move is seen as a big opportunity for brands to gain more control over their online presence and send visitors more directly to parts of their sites — and a danger for those who fail to take advantage.

Japanese electronics giant Canon, for instance, has already said it plans to apply for rights to use domain names ending with .canon.

Entertainment news –

Rebecca Black’s official “Friday”music video has been taken off You Tube.The page where the video starring the 13-year-old singer once played now says it “is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black.”Black’s spokesman says her team sent a takedown notice to YouTube because of a dispute over the video with Ark Music Factory, the company Black’s parents paid $4,000 to produce the song and video. The video had amassed more than 160 million views and more than 3 million “dislikes.”

(Mr. Pop Culture Video) J.K. Rowling has a new website – Pottermore.com, a new project for the “Harry Potter” author, spokeswoman Rebecca Salt said Thursday. The site is “not a new book” and “not directly related” to the final Potter movie, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,” which comes out next month, she said. “We aren’t saying any more than that!” Salt said.”Pottermore” was trademarked in 2009 by Warner Bros., which distributes the Potter movies. The trademark description of Pottermore suggests an interactive site “providing on-line chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards” and “on-line facilities for real-time interaction with other computer users concerning topics of general interest.”

A 21-year-old “history geek” representing California was named Miss USA at the annual beauty pageant in Las Vegas on Sunday. Alyssa Campanella, who was born and raised in New Jersey which she represented at the Miss Teen USA contest in 2007, was considered among the favorites by pageant experts. She will represent the United States at the Miss Universe pageant to be held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on September 12. Campanella was crowned by incumbent Miss USA, Rima Fakih, a Lebanese-born Muslim who was the first Arab-American to hold the title.

(Mr. Pop Culture Video) Ryan Dunn, one of the stars of MTV’s “Jackass,” has died in a car crash. He was 34. NBC Philadelphia said that Dunn and another passenger in a 3 a.m crash at Route 322 and New Street in West Goshen Township, Pennsylvania. Dunn posted to Twitter a photo of himself drinking with friends just hours before the crash. A police report indicated that Dunn was most likely speeding in his 2007 Porsche 911 GT3, which was destroyed in the wreck. “Upon arrival, police located one vehicle in the road and in the woods that was fully engulfed in flames,” the report said.

Tracy Morgan returned to Nashville on Tuesday, where he apologized personally to audience members from his June 3 show, where he unleashed a slew of homophobic remarks. “The first thing I want to say is that I apologize to Kevin [Rodgers], the people who were at the show for bumming them out, I want to apologize to my friends and my family and my fans and everyone in every community, who is offended with this,” Morgan said at a press conference organized by the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) at the Nashville Convention Center.

George Clooney has split from his girlfriend, Elizabetta Canalis, after nearly two years of dating. “We are not together anymore,” the former couple said. “It’s very difficult and very personal, and we hope everyone can respect our privacy.”

Music News –

Passing – The Coasters lead singer and founding member Carl Gardner has died aged 83, the band’s website announced. He passed away at a hospice in Florida on Sunday after suffering from congestive heart failure and vascular dementia “for some time.” The Coasters were a U.S. R&B vocal group with a string of hits in the 1950s that included “Young Blood,” “Searchin,’” “Poison Ivy” and chart topper “Yakety Yak.” Gardner was lead vocalist for Los Angeles-based The Robins before he and bandmate Bobby Nunn teamed up with Billy Guy, Leon Hughes and guitarist Adolph Jacobs to form the Coasters in 1955.

Stevie Wonder gets honored during Apollo Theater’s spring gala with induction into the Legends Hall of Fame, which includes Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald and James Brown. Though Wonder was the main attraction, the audience was also wowed as he collaborated with a cast of friends and admirers including Tony Bennett, Chick Corea, Paul Shaffer and Doug E. Fresh.

Kicks-Off – Britney Spears’ “Femme Fatale” concert tour opens in Sacramento. She Tweeted, “It’s opening night, bitch!” And according to multiple reviews, the pop star didn’t disappoint. Performing a mix of her greatest hits (“Toxic” and “I’m a Slave 4 U”) and new songs (“Big Fat Bass” and “I Wanna Go”), Spears, 29, dazzled in a series of skimpy stage costumes during the sold-out show.Describing it as “her flashiest, fastest moving, and most entertaining production yet,” Rolling Stone said that while tour-opener Nicki Minaj, 26, brought her A-game, “the night belonged to Britney: She managed to prove that she’s still progressing as a showgirl. Not only that, she’s doing it better than even die-hard defenders would’ve predicted.”

British singer Amy Winehouse, whose career has been blighted by alcohol and drug abuse, has canceled all her scheduled concerts after she was jeered by fans in Serbia recently for a shambolic performance. Winehouse, 27, sporting her trademark bouffant hairdo and figure-hugging dress, struggled to perform her songs and keep her balance at the gig in the Serbian capital Belgrade, and on some tunes the audience did most of the singing.

Rock guitarist Leslie West, who rose to fame in the ’70s power trio Mountain, has had his lower right leg amputated in a life-saving operation related to his diabetes, his wife said on Monday. West, 65, underwent the emergency surgery after being admitted to a hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Saturday when his leg started to swell and his foot went septic. “The doctors tried for two days to save it to no avail. The decision to amputate was one that was necessary to save his life as the infection was spreading throughout his body,” his wife, Jenni West, said in an email.

“The nursing staff and doctors have taken excellent care of him and should be called angels for their efforts and tenderness they showed us in this time of crisis.” West is expected to recover but faces extensive rehabilitation, a spokesman said

(Mr. Pop Culture Video)Passing – Renowned saxophonist and Bruce Springsteen side man for over 40 years, Clarence Clemons, affectionately known as The Big Man, passed away Saturday night, June 18, at his Florida home. Clemons died of complications from a massive stroke he suffered on June 12, after years of failing health. Even with his health concerns, he remained active until the end, including performing with Lady Gaga last month on the season finale of “American Idol.”

Mr. Pop History – It’s interesting that even Fred Mertz cut a record. At one time, it seemed the “in thing” – to get every popular actor in the recording studio. I mean, so many did it.

Back in 1958, after “I Love Lucy” morphed into “The Luci-Desi Hour” on CBS-TV, you could go to record stores and purchase, “William Frawley Sings the Old Ones” on Dot Records. This is the same label that later released albums by actors Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and Greg Morris (Barney) on “Mission: Impossible.”

Did you say gas was up? It’s come down a little, but won’t go down much more. And, you can bet, it will go up again. As soon as the Stock market heats-up, traders will go in and bid up oil. Everybody’s crying for better gas mileage – and auto makers say they have a good answer in the hybrid. The real answer is – the technology is out there. This is amazing. Someone’s invented a device that goes into any fuel injected car.

His name is Chris Smart. He has two patents – and a third on the way. He calls it the AMT/Economyzer – a device that saves fuel in any fuel injected car. Doubles/triples gas mileage.

The technology is here. Chris is doing radio interviews to let the world know – this can be done. He’s been at it for 13 years. Here’s a recent radio drive-time interview over KNEWS in Palm Springs.

Chris is only beginning to let the public know – he has what they need in cars.

The radio industry just loves it – with all the doomsday reporting of “the battle” for media – radio always gets the raw deal. New numbers say that radio listening is in an uptrend. Here’s some of that reporting:

Arbitron released highlights from its RADAR 109 National Radio Listening Report and it says radio’s continued strength with a year over year increase of about 1.9 million weekly listeners ages twelve and older. The number of Persons twelve and older listening to radio each week now reaches an estimated 241.5 million, representing 93.1% of all persons twelve and older.

As compared to the June 2010 report, the number of radio listeners increased across all major demographics, with Adults 18-34 showing the biggest gains, adding nearly 350,000 weekly listeners in the age group in the past year. There are now nearly 66.5 million Adults 18-34 listening to radio each week, or 93.6% of all members of this demographic. The number of Teens 12-17 listening to radio also continues to rise, increasing 158,000 listeners versus June 2010, reaching more than 22.8 million weekly listeners or 92%.

According to RADAR 109, radio continues to reach more than 93% of Black (non-Hispanic) Persons 12 and older and more than 95% of Hispanics aged 12 and older on a weekly basis, or 29.8 million and 36.5 million respectively. Hispanic listeners 12 years rose by 1.1 million listeners compared to the June 2010 report. Hispanics 18-49 increased sharply in the last year, adding close to 600,000 weekly listeners since June, 2010.

In picture – reach-out to Susan Jacks – who is still performing up in Canada and a mr pop friend.

Mr. Pop Culture -
It’s amazing and a fact. Motown was probably the greatest hitmaker of the 1960′s with artists such as the Supremes, Diana Ross, Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Four Tops, The Jackson 5, Martha and the Vandellas.

They sold millions of 45 singles – but not one certified gold record (a million in sales). How is that?

Not even their biggest single of all time, 1968′s “Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye.

The answer is Berry Gordy. From the beginning, he set a very strict policy about who had access to Motown’s books and that included the Recording Industry Association of America – the folks who award gold and platinum recordings.

They began showing the books around 1977. And, that’s when you begin to find certification – but it was a long way from Motown’s hitmaking machine of the 1960′s and into the 1970′s.

It’s a great story – and one of the fascinating pop culture music history moments.

Wall Street ended a four-day rally with its worst session since August on Wednesday and could suffer more losses in coming days as investors faced more signs the economic recovery is fading. All 10 Standard & Poor’s sectors ended more than 1 percent lower and all 30 stocks in the Dow industrials fell. Banks were the biggest decliners as the economic reports painted a glum picture for jobs and manufacturing.

Syrian forces killed 41 civilians in the central town of Rastan on Tuesday during a military operation to crush pro-democracy protests, Razan Zaitouna, a human rights lawyer, said on Wednesday. The death toll included a 4-year-old girl, Zaitouna told Reuters by telephone from Damascus. Government forces surrounded the town on Sunday and shelled it during the operation, she said, adding that activists on the ground had a list consisting of 41 dead civilians.

NATO and its partners in the military campaign to protect Libyan civilians have decided to extend their mission another 90 days, the alliance’s top official said Wednesday. “This decision sends a clear message to the Gadhafi regime: We are determined to continue our operation to protect the people of Libya,” said NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Gadhafi is trying to withstand the NATO air barrage and put down a rebellion among his own people.

Search and rescue efforts continued and thousands in Massachusetts were still without power on Thursday after tornadoes that ripped through the state the previous day, killing at least four people. The twisters injured at least 200. The casualty count “hasn’t changed yet, although we have a lot of folks doing search and rescue, dealing with debris piles and things today, so that number could change,” Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed.”

Passing – Jack Kevorkian, (mrpopvideo) the audacious doctor who spurred on the national right-to-die debate with a homemade suicide machine that helped end the lives of dozens of ailing people, died Friday at a Detroit-area hospital after a brief illness. He was 83.

U.S. newspaper advertising revenue fell 7 percent during the first three months of the year. That left the industry’s quarterly ad revenue at its lowest level in 27 years. Combined print and online advertising revenue totaled $5.6 billion in the first quarter. That compared with $6 billion a year earlier. Revenue was $5.2 billion in the first quarter of 1984. It had peaked in the fourth quarter of 2005 at $14.3 billion. Newspapers have struggled with the weak economy and a shift by advertisers to free and cheaper outlets on the Internet.

A federal grand jury charged two-time presidential candidate John Edwards on Friday with soliciting and covering up the secret spending of more than $925,000 to hide his mistress and their baby during the peak of his 2008 campaign for the White House.

A Philadelphia woman is suing Dunkin’ Donuts, saying a worker mistakenly put sugar in her coffee that ultimately caused her to go into diabetic shock.

Danielle Jordan’s lawsuit claims she asked for artificial sweetener to be added to her coffee during a June 2009 visit. Jordan claims she downed the drink and experienced dizziness, light-headedness and ended up making an emergency trip to the hospital.

The Chinese military accused the U.S. on Friday of launching a global “Internet war” to bring down Arab and other governments, redirecting the spotlight away from allegations of major online attacks on Western targets originating in China. The accusations Friday by Chinese military academy scholars, and their urging of tougher policing of the Internet, followed allegations this week that computer hackers in China had compromised the personal Gmail accounts of several hundred people, including government officials, military personnel and political activists.

President Barack Obama says recent economic “headwinds” at home resulted from high gasoline prices, the Japanese earthquake and Europe’s financial crisis. As inspiration for a broader recovery, he’s citing the American auto industry’s resurgence.”We’re a people who don’t give up, who do big things, who shape our own destiny,” the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday(June4.)The message, taped Friday during Obama’s visit to a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, was hardly different than the remarks he offered to about 350 Chrysler workers.

British Apache and French attack helicopters struck targets for the first time in NATO’s campaign in Libya, hitting Moammar Gadhafi’s troops early Saturday near a key coastal oil town, the alliance said. Hours later, at least eight airstrikes were heard in Tripoli.The action was a significant step-up in NATO’s operations and a major boost to Libyan rebels, just a day after rebel fighters forced government troops from three western towns and broke the siege of a fourth in yet another erosion of Gadhafi’s power since the eruption in mid-February of the uprising to end his 42-year rule

Israeli troops opened fire Sunday at a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters who tried to break into the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from neighboring Syria, killing as many as 20 people and wounding scores in a burst of violence marking the Arab defeat in the 1967 Mideast war. The casualty figures came from Syrian state television and were confirmed by the head of a hospital treating the casualties. The Israeli military said it was not tracking casualties on either side. The latest television report said a woman and child were among the dead.

So far, House Democratic leaders haven’t publicly demanded Rep. Anthony Weiner resign after admitting he sent suggestive photos of himself in his underwear via Twitter and then lied about it to everyone within earshot. But they’ve made it clear they’d appreciate it if he’d go away. And soon. In statements within an hour of Weiner’s stunning admission on Monday, not a single Democrat volunteered support for the man long mentioned as a possible future mayor of New York. And notably, none chose to comment on his defiant vow: “I am not resigning.”

More then 120 Syrian security officers were killed in battles with gunmen, state television said, in the first report of large-scale clashes in a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

The report said on Monday armed groups set government buildings ablaze in the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour, stole five tonnes of dynamite and were firing at civilians and security forces with machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades.

Fighting flared on Tuesday(June7) in a southern Yemen city seized by Islamist militants, killing at least 25 people, a local official said, after Washington urged President Ali Abdullah Saleh to hand over power peacefully.

With few options at hand and his poll numbers sagging, President Barack Obama expressed concern Tuesday about the sudden slowdown in the economy but said he is not worried about a second recession and the nation should “not panic.”

Tech News –

A waterfront area in the New York borough of Brooklyn has become the first city neighborhood to feature free wireless service on streets and in parks and plazas. DUMBO, short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, already has a reputation for innovative projects. Several formerly abandoned and neglected structures there have been transformed into eco-friendly offices and apartment buildings.”We are encouraging people to step out of their offices and homes and engage with one another and the neighborhood in new and different ways,” said Alexandria Sica, the executive director of the DUMBO Business Improvement District (BIB).

More Hacker Problems for Sony – A group calling itself “Lulz Security” announced a fresh attack on Thursday, posting online snippets of data it says came from a breach earlier this week of more than 1 million user accounts on Sony’s website. Lulz began posting messages to Twitter on Thursday about its “Sownage” campaign, and around 4:30 p.m. ET it posted links to download what it claimed was a giant cache of Sony user data. The World Health Organization re-stoked the debate over mobile phones and cancer this week, when they added the gadgets to a list of items that “possibly” contribute to the disease. The documents posted include names, passwords, e-mail addresses, home addresses and dates of birth for thousands of people. Lulz said it grabbed the material by exploiting vulnerability on a Sony page advertising the company’s Ghostbusters franchise. Lulz posted the website’s address in its data dump, and encouraged fellow hackers to “tear the living shit out of it while you can; take from them everything!”

iCloud Is Here(mrpopvideo)- Apple’s Steve Jobs on Monday(June6) announced a new service called “iCloud,” which lets Apple product owners store documents and music on the Internet instead of on their own computer hard drives or mobile phones. iCloud expands on the trend of cloud computing, which refers to the idea that computer users are storing more of their information “in the cloud” of the Internet rather than on their own storage drives. All of a person’s Apple devices — iPhone, iPads and Mac computers — sync wirelessly with Apple’s iCloud, giving users access to their documents, photos, apps, calendars and e-mails from any location, not just on a specific gadget. “We think this is going to be pretty big,” said Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, who has been on medical leave since January.

Verizon follows AT&T in reportedly moving toward tiered plans that charge users based on how much data they use. New Nielsen research indicates that Android users might eventually encounter some bill shock. Nielsen analyzed nearly 65,000 U.S. cell phone bills from the first quarter of 2011 and found that “Android smartphone owners consumed an average of 582 MB of data each month, compared to 492 MB for iPhone owners.” Right now, since 4G networks and handsets are not widely deployed in the United States, these figures mainly represent data usage on 3G networks. As 4G becomes the norm for mobile broadband, average data usage will likely rise sharply.

Live TV on the Xbox and a more mature second generation of games for the Kinect were among the promises at a Microsoft briefing Monday in advance of the E3 video-game expo. At the event, Microsoft said it hopes to make Xbox Live a hub for almost all types of entertainment. As such, they rolled out new partners, such as YouTube and Bing, that they hope will help the gaming system position itself in that way.

Sports –

Shaq O’Neal announces his retirement from pro-basketball after playing 19 seasons. (mrpopvideo)

College football quarterback Nate Montana, son of NFL Hall of Fame star Joe Montana, was arrested early on Friday in Missoula, Montana, on suspicion of driving under the influence. Nate Montana, 21, was stopped at about 4 a.m. local time for speeding and refused to submit to an alcohol breath test, but the arresting officer nevertheless found him to have been driving under the influence, said Jason Johnson a spokesman for the county sheriff’s department. The athlete was subsequently booked into the Missoula County Jail on a DUI first offense — a misdemeanor traffic infraction — and was released after posting a $685 bond, Johnson said.

Rafael Nadal has won his record-equaling sixth French Open title, beating Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1 in the final.It was the fourth final at Roland Garros between the two players, and Nadal has won all four.

Entertainment –

The season finale of “American Idol” had 29.3 million viewers.

Lady Gaga Hot – In its first week of release, her album Born this Way sold 1.11 million copies nationwide — the highest debut since March 2005, when 50 Cent’s The Massacre sold 1.14 million copies in its first week. Born This Way is only the 17th album to sell one-million plus copies in a week since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.Digital sales for the record totaled 662,000, the biggest week ever for a digital album in SoundScan history.

TV Season Scorecard As Season Ends – CBS finished the 2010-11 season last week as the nation’s most-watched television network for the eighth time in nine years, the Nielsen Co. said on Wednesday. Fox won its seventh season in a row among the youthful 18-to-49-year-old demographic closely watched by advertisers. The country’s favorite TV show was Fox’s “American Idol” for the eighth straight season. Viewership was down for each of the four biggest broadcast networks, Nielsen said. CBS averaged 11.6 million viewers in prime-time (down 2 percent from last season), Fox had 9.8 million viewers (down 2 percent), ABC had 8.5 million (down 1 percent) and NBC had 7 million (down 15 percent), Nielsen said. Much of NBC’s decline was because the network broadcast the Winter Olympics last season; take away sports and NBC’s prime-time decline was 3 percent. CBS had the five most popular dramas on television, each a crime-solving procedural (“NCIS,” ”NCIS: Los Angeles,” ”The Mentalist,” ”Criminal Minds” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”). The network also had the two most popular comedies in “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men,” the latter despite a Sheen-shortened season. Only the writer’s strike-affected 2007-08 season, won by Fox, stopped CBS from a nine-year winning streak. The fastest-growing prime-time show was “Modern Family” on ABC, up 24 percent to 11.8 million viewers, Nielsen said. Fox’s since-canceled “Good Guys,” down 42 percent, was the biggest year-to-year loser.

Shania Twain (mrpopvideo) receives the 2,442nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame today, honoring her for overcoming poverty as a youth and the deaths of her mother and stepfather in an auto accident to become the top-selling female country artist of all time. Actress Bo Derek and Rob Light, head of Creative Artists Agency’s music division, will joined Twain in speaking in the ceremony in front of the W Hollywood hotel at 6270 Hollywood Blvd. The ceremony comes nearly a month after the release of her best-selling memoir “From This Moment On” and the premiere of a documentary series “Why Not? With Shania Twain” on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Passing – James Arness, the 6-foot-6 actor (mrpopvideo) who towered over the television landscape for two decades as righteous Dodge City lawman Matt Dillon in “Gunsmoke,” died Friday. He was 88. The actor died in his sleep at his home in Brentwood, Calif., according to his business manager, Ginny Fazer.

Passing – — Clarice Taylor, the actress and comedian best known for playing grandmothers on “The Cosby Show” and “Sesame Street,” has died at the age of 93.Taylor died of congestive heart failure in her home in Englewood, N.J., on Monday, said her son, William Taylor. During a career that spanned five decades, Taylor performed on radio and TV, in film and on stage, including in the original Broadway cast of the musical “The Wiz.”

The estranged daughter of Billy Bob Thornton has been found guilty of aggravated manslaughter.Amanda Brumsfield had faced murder charges after an incident in 2008 that lead to the death of a friend’s 1-year-old girl. Brumsfield claimed the girl, whom she was taking care of, hit her head after falling from her playpen, but prosecutors from the Orange County State Attorney’s office in Florida argued that the height from which she supposedly fell wouldn’t have caused a fracture of the child’s skull.

Paris Hilton’s’s no longer hot in the reality TV world. The premiere of her Oxygen series, The World According to Paris, drew a meager 409,000 viewers for its Wednesday premiere. By comparison, the March debut of singer Aubrey O’Day‘s Oxygen series drew 724,000, while 1.7 million viewers tuned in for the premiere of the most recent installment of The Bad Girls Club. Despite the initial ratings return, Hilton remains confident her series will strike a chord with viewers.

Best Villain: Tom Felton, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.”

Katy Couric – the 54-year-old journalist (who left CBS’ Evening News on May 19) has inked a multi-year, multi-platform deal with Disney/ABC Television Group on Wednesday to host and produce her own nationally syndicated daytime talk show and to join the ABC news team.

Longtime sportscaster Marv Albert — best known as the lead announcer on NBC’s coverage of the NBA and for his signature calls “Yes!” and “RE-jected!” — is joining CBS Sports to broadcast NFL games, the network announced Monday. “Marv Albert is recognized throughout sports broadcasting as one of its true legends.Very few in the broadcasting industry can claim his combined accomplishments and remarkable longevity,” CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said. Albert, who turns 70 on June 12, will continue with the play-by-play for TNT’s National Basketball Association coverage.

NBC has retained the rights to the Olympics through 2020 in a new deal that covers four more games. Comcast, NBC’s new parent company, agreed Tuesday to acquire the rights to the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, and the next two Olympics, whose host cities have not yet been chosen. The deal is worth $4.38 billion. NBC Universial CEO Steve Burke said he was “extremely pleased” to continue to carry the games.

Rise Against and Linkin Park – and even the Foo Fighters hit the stage for a surprise appearance at KROQ radio’s annual Weenie Roast in S. California. They’ve been doing it since 1993.

Rap producer and artist Dr Dre Monday settled a federal lawsuit over album sales a day before trial of the royalties case was set to begin. Dre, whose real name is Andre Young, sued the current owners of Death Row Records last year in Los Angeles federal court, alleging the label owed him royalties for three albums. According to the breach of contract suit, WIDEawake Entertainment Group, which oversees Death Row, never paid the artist money for sales of “The Chronic,” “The Chronic Re-Lit” and a greatest hits collection.

Michael Jackson’s Jacket – The coat, which the late star wore in the iconic 1983 music video which saw him transform into a zombie, is expected to fetch between $200,000 and $400,000 when it is sold in Beverley Hills, California, later this month. Auctioneers Julien’s said: “We know of no other jacket that is so easily recognizable or one that so altered fashion history. It is the most recognized and significant piece of pop culture.” The jacket is signed “love Michael Jackson” on its sleeve, and was originally presented to the King of Pop’s designers, Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush, who worked with him on a number of outfits during his career.

Passing – Versatile singer/songwriter Andrew Gold, (mrpopvideo) who enjoyed chart success in the 1970s with the songs “Lonely Boy” and “Thank You For Being a Friend,” died in his sleep. He was 59. The Los Angeles Times said he died at his home on Friday. He had been undergoing cancer treatment but was responding well to treatment. Gold, the son of Oscar-winning composer Ernest Gold and singer Marni Nixon, got his break in 1973 when he joined Linda Ronstadt’s band. He played a key role on such tunes as “You’re No Good” and “When Will I Be Loved?” He launched a parallel solo career in 1975 with a self-titled album on which he played most of the instruments. The track “Endless Flight” was later covered by Leo Sayer.

Mr. Pop History – Long before “Transformers” – there was a cartoon character who could transform himself into any thing – any shape. He was Tom Terrific – Over CBS-TV. This was 1957. Tom was a boy who could assume any shape he wanted to, as he battled villains. Along with his sidekick dog – they were unique.

Tom Terrific first came to us on CBS’ “Captain Kangaroo” in living black and white and produced by Terrytoons – a company making a big splash in the newer business of made-for-television cartoons. Tom’s unique boy-like voice was given to us by Lionel Wilson. The Tom Terrific cartoon intro was catchy. Here’s a sample here: Tom Terriffic Cartoon Opening CBSTV 1957 wwwmrpopculturecom

Seventeen bombs exploded Sunday within hours of one another in Baghdad, killing at least 19 people and wounding more than 80, Iraqi authorities said. The bombings came the same day Britain wrapped up its military mission in Iraq, leaving a predominantly American military presence that is expected to disappear by the end of the year under a U.S.-Iraqi security pact that requires U.S. troops to withdraw from the country. The blasts Sunday were the latest in a spate in recent weeks that have raised concerns about Iraq’s ability to protect itself. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he plans to meet with Iraqi political leaders this month to discuss whether to request U.S. troops remain in Iraq beyond the Jan. 1, 2012, withdrawal deadline.

The Los Angeles police chief says a tip from a parole officer led to the arrest of one of the suspects in the attack on a San Francisco Giants fan outside Dodger Stadium after the rival teams’ season opener. At an afternoon news conference at the stadium, Chief Charlie Beck said the man detained early Sunday is believed to be the “main aggressor” in the March 31 beating that left Bryan Stow with brain damage.

Spanish cyclist Xavier Tondo (Video) was killed in a freak accident on Monday in which he was crushed between his car and a garage door at a ski resort in southern Spain, a police source said. Tondo, 32, was in his car about to leave the garage of an apartment building of the Sierra Nevada resort Monday morning to continue training for the Tour de France. For reasons that remain unclear, he got out of the vehicle and became trapped between his car and the automatic door of the garage, a police source in the nearby city of Granada said.

A massive tornado that tore a 6-mile path across southwestern Missouri killed at least 123 with 750 people injured and many more missing, authorities said on Tuesday. Iit slammed into the city of Joplin, ripping into a hospital, crushing cars like soda cans and leaving a forest of splintered tree trunks behind where entire neighborhoods once stood. Authorities warned that the death toll could climb as search and rescue workers continued their efforts. Their task was made more miserable as a new thunderstorm with strong winds, heavy rain pelted part of the city with quarter-sized hail.

Violent thunderstorms mrpopvideo here roared across middle America on Tuesday(May24), killing six people in two states, with several tornadoes touching down in Oklahoma and high winds pounding rural Kansas. The high-powered storms arrived as forecast, just two days after a massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri town of Joplin and killed 122 people.

Regulators launched one of the biggest ever crackdowns on oil price manipulation on Tuesday, suing two well-known traders and two trading firms owned by Norwegian billionaire John Fredriksen for allegedly making $50 million by squeezing markets in 2008. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said traders James Dyer of Oklahoma’s Parnon Energy, and Nick Wildgoose of Europe-based Arcadia Energy, amassed large physical positions at a key U.S. trading hub to create the impression of tight supplies that would boost oil prices. Later they dumped those barrels back onto the market, causing prices to crash and racking up profits from short positions they had accrued in futures markets, the suit said. “Defendants conducted a manipulative cycle, driving the price of WTI (crude) to artificial highs and then back down, to make unlawful profits,” the lawsuit filed in New York said.

Elizabeth Smart says she was thrilled with the two life sentences given to the man who kidnapped her from the bedroom of her Utah home nearly nine years ago. Smart said at a news conference Wednesday after the hearing that she fully believes defendant David Brian Mitchell knew exactly what he was doing when he abducted and raped her, despite arguments by his lawyers for years that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Fierce fighting among apparent rival drug gangs in western Mexico bloodied one highway with 28 dead, while in a nearby state more than 700 people huddled in shelters after fleeing villages that had become battlegrounds. The violence, which appeared to be unrelated, escalated Wednesday(May25) in the western states of Nayarit and Michoacan, where drug cartels have been warring for territory.

Gen. Ratko Mladic, the brutal Bosnian Serb general suspected of leading the bloody massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, was arrested in an early morning raid Thursday in Serbia after more than a decade hiding from genocide charges, the country’s president said. The arrest 16 years after Mladic was indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal could be a jolt for Serbia’s lagging efforts to join the European Union.

Yemen – More than 40 Yemenis were killed in pitched street battles in the capital on Thursday as fighting aimed at ending President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s three-decade-long rule threatened to ignite civil war.

The Supreme Court upheld an Arizona law Thursday that penalizes businesses for hiring workers who are in the United States illegally, rejecting arguments that states have no role in immigration matters. By a 5-3 vote, the court said that federal immigration law gives states the authority to impose sanctions on employers who hire unauthorized workers. The ruling cheered supporters of tougher immigration laws who said it would encourage states to take new steps, especially in the employment area.

Egypt lifted a four-year-old blockade on the Gaza Strip’s main link to the outside world Saturday(May28), bringing relief to the crowded territory’s 1.5 million Palestinians but deepening a rift with Israel since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.

The Egyptian move will allow thousands of Gazans to move freely in and out of the area — heightening Israeli fears that militants and weapons could easily reach its doorstep.

Seven more people were confirmed dead over the last 24 hours, bringing the number of fatalities from the powerful Joplin tornado to 139, the city confirmed on Saturday(May28).

The tornado, already the deadliest single twister in the United States since 1947, injured more than 900 people, though officials said that figure could be higher because some people did not go to hospitals.

Archaeologists recovered the first anchor from what’s believed to be the wreck of the pirate Blackbeard’s flagship off the North Carolina coast Friday, a move that might change plans about how to save the rest of the almost 300-year-old artifacts from the central part of the ship.

A massive and unprecedented outbreak of bacterial infections linked to contaminated vegetables claimed two more lives in Europe on Tuesday, driving the death toll to 16. The number of sick rose to more than 1,150 people in at least eight nations. Nearly 400 people in Germany were battling a severe and potentially fatal version of the infection that attacks the kidneys. A U.S. expert said doctors had never seen so many cases of the condition, hemolytic uremic syndrome, tied to a foodborne illness outbreak before.

The Illinois House of Representatives on Monday passed a gambling expansion bill that would bring a casino to Chicago. The measure passed by a vote of 65-50. New Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel supports having a casino in the city and urged the state’s Senate to “act swiftly to pass this bill.”

House Republicans dealt defeat to their own proposal for a $2.4 trillion increase in the nation’s debt limit Tuesday, a political gambit designed to reinforce a demand for spending cuts to accompany any increase in government borrowing. The vote was lopsided, with just 97 in favor of the measure and 318 against. House Democrats accused the GOP of political demagoguery, while the Obama administration maneuvered to avoid taking sides — or giving offense to majority Republicans.

Passing – Former Texas Governor Bill Clements, who was the state’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction when he took office in 1979, has died at the age of 94. His family said in a statement that he died after a brief hospital stay surrounded by his wife, daughter, and numerous family members. He had been ill for several months, the statement said. Clements, who served two terms as governor, from 1979 to 1983 and from 1987 to 1991, was remembered by current Governor Rick Perry as “the father of the modern day Republican party” in the state.

Sports –

Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter has a brain tumor that “appears to be malignant”, doctors at Duke University Medical Center said on Friday. The 11-times All-Star was diagnosed with four brain tumors in Florida last week and had biopsies done on one of them at Duke University in North Carolina earlier on Friday.

With the NFL lockout in full swing, John Elway must really be bored. Somehow Elway — the Denver Broncos vice president and Hall-of-Fame quarterback — became aware of the Fort Collins, Colo., punk band “Elway,” and decided he’s just not cool with the group using his surname. The Broncos legend’s lawyer has requested that the band change its name, but stopped short of suing or issuing a cease and desist order.

Wins The Indy 500 – The race car sponsored by Justin Timberlake’s’s William Rast clothing line won the Indy 500 in Indianapolis, Indiana on Sunday.”What a Memorial Day weekend!” the singer-actor tweeted. “The William Rast car just won the Indy 500!” The car, driven by racing veteran Dan Wheldon, beat out 32 other drivers for the coveted Borg-Warner Trophy.

Tech news –

Yahoo is rolling out an upgraded version of its e-mail service to its 284 million users. The revamped service, which will become available to users in the coming weeks, will be twice as fast as previous versions and integrate more seamlessly with social networks. “This latest version of Yahoo! Mail is faster, safer, easier to use, and offers a seamless experience across PC, mobile and tablet devices,” said David McDowell, a director of product management for the company. Users of the new service will be able to respond instantly to messages from Facebook from their inbox while sharing notifications from Twitter, Facebook and Zynga via a new Updates tab.

A computer security researcher has found a flaw in Microsoft Corp’s widely used Internet Explorer browser that he said could let hackers steal credentials to access FaceBook, Twitter and other websites. He calls the technique “cookiejacking.” “Any website. Any cookie. Limit is just your imagination,” said Rosario Valotta, an independent Internet security researcher based in Italy. Hackers can exploit the flaw to access a data file stored inside the browser known as a “cookie,” which holds the login name and password to a web account, Valotta said via email. Once a hacker has that cookie, he or she can use it to access the same site, said Valotta, who calls the technique “cookiejacking.”

Calling the case a “brazen and outrageous fraud,” Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg urged a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit by a New York man claiming he owns a huge stake in the social networking website. In a filing Thursday with the U.S. District Court in Buffalo, New York, Facebook Inc and Zuckerberg said the lawsuit by Paul Ceglia is based on a “doctored contract and fabricated evidence.” They also called the plaintiff “an inveterate scam artist whose misconduct extends across decades and borders.” Ceglia, a wood pellet salesman from Wellsville, New York, has contended that he contracted in 2003 for 50 percent of Zuckerberg’s interest in what became Facebook. Facebook is privately held, but analysts have said it could be worth $70 billion should it go public, perhaps in 2012. Forbes magazine in March estimated Zuckerberg’s net worth at $13.5 billion.

Apple has confirmed maybe the worst kept secret in Silicon Valley: It’s been working on a cloud service, and will announce it at the June 6 Worldwide Developers Conference. So now we know annual developer’s conference will unveil “iCloud®, Apple’s upcoming cloud services offering,” but we don’t know yet what it is, or what exactly will reside at the domain name it may have bought for $4.5 million in April.

Intel plans to unveil something called “Ultrabook” – a slim laptop that will run on its second-generation core chips. Look for it later this year.

iCloud could be the mythical iTunes streaming service, a possibility that is looking increasingly likely now that Apple has most of the major record labels signed up for it, in a space pioneered by Amazon and Google, which has no such deals. Or it could be Apple’s version of DropBox, the amazing sync and storage service that currently glues together the whole iOS ecosystem along with its desktop service.

PayPal is suing Google for allegedly stealing its employees and trade secrets that may have led to the launch of Google’s mobile payment service. The 28-page lawsuit, filed in a superior court in San Jose, Calif., late Thursday, accuses Google) and two former PayPal employees who now work at Google of implementing PayPal’s confidential trade secrets related to mobile payment technology. This as Former PayPal employees Stephanie Tilenius and Osama Bedier announce the launch of Google Wallet in New York, Thursday.

Entertainment News –

Lady Gaga fans were delighted Monday to learn that they could download her new album, Born This Way, from Amazon for a mere $.99 — until, of course, technical difficulties set in. Downloads of the album are delayed, leaving folks unable to get the entire album immediately upon purchase. Amazon issued the following statement: “Amazon is experiencing high volume and downloads are delayed. If customers order today, they will get the full Lady Gaga, Born This Way album for $0.99. Thanks for your patience.”

The animated series starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a superhero is officially on hold. The companies behind “The Governator” (see mrpopvideo) said Friday they have stopped working on the budding franchise that Schwarzenegger helped announce to much fanfare in Cannes, France, last month. “In light of recent events, A Squared Entertainment, POW, Stan Lee Comics, and Archie Comics, have halted production” on the project, the companies said in a written statement. There is no word when or if production on the planned TV series, comic book, movie and video game will resume. “The Governator” is to star Schwarzenegger as a superhero living a double life: A family man and former governor who secretly fights global villainy and modern-day disasters alongside a team of hip teenagers.

Joseph Brooks, the Academy Award-winning songwriter of “You Light Up My Life” who was awaiting trial on charges of sexually assaulting more than a dozen women, was found dead Sunday of an apparent suicide in his Manhattan apartment, police said. Brooks, 73, was discovered in his Upper East Side apartment around 12:30 p.m. by a friend with whom he had planned to have lunch, police spokesman Paul Browne said. It was not immediately clear how long his body had been there. Brooks’ death comes five months after his son was arrested in an unrelated, high-profile case. The son is charged with murdering his girlfriend, whose body was found in December in an overflowing bathtub at a swank hotel in SoHo.

“Planet of the Apes” actress and former model Estella Warren was arrested after a late-night crash that led to her allegedly assaulting a police officer then trying to flee from custody, officials said Tuesday. Warren was driving down Harper Avenue near West Hollywood when she crashed into three parked cars, Los Angeles police Officer Sarah Faden said. Someone heard the noise of the crashes and came to see what was going on. That person called police then pursued Warren when it was clear she wasn’t going to stop and leave her information, Faden said.

Justin Bieber had an amazing night at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards that included six awards –and a kiss from Selena Gomez. (mrpopvideohere) The 17-year-old singing sensation took home a slew of awards at the Las Vegas awards show, including Digital Artist of the Year, Top New Artist and the Fan Favorite award and before be took to the stage to accept his New Artist award, he planted a kiss on Selena who he was sitting with him in the audience. On stage, he didn’t thank Selena specifically, but gave shout outs to “my whole family, [talent manager] Scooter Braun, Usher – basically everyone who helped me get out of my hometown and live my dream.”

Lindsay Lohan’s father has pleaded not guilty to attacking his ex-girlfriend during an argument earlier this year in California. Michael Lohan entered the plea to misdemeanor domestic violence battery Monday in Beverly Hills. He was arrested in March after his ex-girlfriend, Kate Major, accused him of abusing her and preventing her from calling 911.

Passing – Phyllis Avery, who played the wife of Ray Milland in 75 episodes of the 1953-55 CBS comedy “Meet Mr. McNulty,” died May 19 of heart failure at her home in Los Angeles. She was 88. In “McNulty” (later called “The Ray Milland Show”), Milland played a professor at a college for girls, with Avery as his wife, Peggy. During her 50-year career, the petite blonde also co-starred in the 1960-62 CBS soap opera “The Clear Horizon” and on such shows as “Peter Gunn,” “Have Gun — Will Travel,” “The Rifleman,” “The Millionaire,” “Rawhide” and “Perry Mason.”

Passing – Longtime CNBC anchor Mark Haines (in mrpopvideohere) has died Wednesday. He was 65. He died unexpectedly at his home Tuesday night, according to CNBC, which did not offer a cause of death.

Goodbye Oprah – Oprah Winfey signed off her long-running talk show, Wednesday(May25) in an emotional hour that featured just one guest: Winfrey herself. Surrounded by 300 audience members and celeb pals like Maria Shriver, Gayle King and Winfrey’s longtime beau, Stedman Graham, the host, 57, described her talk show exit as “all sweet, no bitter.” “There are no words to match this moment,” Winfrey said in the show’s opening moments. “This show has been going on for 4561 days of my life.” Later, the host recalled her early days on the Chicago-based series, sans a stylist and publicist. “[I had] just a Jheri Curl and a bad fur coat,” she joked.

Actress Lindsay Lohan turned herself in to Los Angeles jail authorities early on Thursday and has begun serving a sentence for jewelry theft under house arrest, officials said. Lohan, 24, turned up at a Los Angeles jail at 5 am on Thursday, according to official records.

Left-leaning Ed Schultz has been suspended from MSNBC for referring to fellow host Laura Ingraham as a “right-wing slut” and “talk slut” on his syndicated show Tuesday. In a statement released Wednesday, the cable channel said: “MSNBC management met with Ed Schultz this afternoon and accepted his offer to take one week of unpaid leave for the remarks he made yesterday on his radio program. Ed will address these remarks on his show tonight, and immediately following begin his leave. Remarks of this nature are unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”

An appeals court on Friday(May 27) refused to reconsider music producer Phil Spector’s appeal of his murder conviction, saying there was overwhelming evidence of his guilt. The California 2nd District Court of Appeal panel acknowledged it did not consider an issue that defense lawyers now say was critical to his conviction. The panel blamed the lawyers for failing to sufficiently brief the point and said they had no obligation to consider it.

Amercian Idol Season #10 Winner – Beam Him Up – Scotty McCreery! Runner up is Lauren Alainia. 122 million votes were cast.

Lady Gaga and Rihanna – (Friday May 27) kIcked off summer music on Friday with two morning concerts in New York City. Mama Monster and her Little Monsters stormed Central Park for a concert on “Good Morning America.” Meanwhile, Rihanna did her thing for the “Today” show over at Rockefeller Plaza.

Passing – Jeff Conaway, who starred in the sitcom “Taxi,” played swaggering Kenickie in the movie musical “Grease” and publicly battled drug and alcohol addiction on “Celebrity Rehab,” died Friday. He was 60. The actor was taken off life support Thursday and died Friday morning at Encino Tarzana Medical Center, according to one of his managers, Kathryn Boole.

Chart-topping hip-hop star Sean Kingston remained hospitalized in intensive care on Monday, a day after his personal watercraft hit a bridge in Miami Beach, a spokesman for his record label said. Kingston, 21, and a female passenger were injured when the watercraft hit the Palm Island Bridge early Sunday evening. They were plucked from the water by a passing boater. The extent of their injuries was not known.

The former “Brady Bunch” middle child and the first “America’s Next Top Model” have gone their separate ways. After five years together, Christopher Knight (53), and Adrianne Curry, 28, have called it quits… on their five-year anniversary. “After starting a relationship with what seemed to be irreconcilable differences, the couple has reached a period where those differences are no longer appreciated. The decision was mutually reached after it became clear to both that some perspective was needed in order to assess their unique union. Not unlike all marriages, work must be put in,” the couple’s manager said in a statement.